,.' ' 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS, 


AS  EVIDENCED  BY  LANGUAGE: 


C'OMl'RISINO 

The  Huron-Cherokee  Stock:    The  Dakota  Stock:    The  Algonkins: 

The  Chahta-Muskoki  Stock:     The  Moundbuilders : 

The  Iberians. 


Bv  HORATIO  HALE,  M.  A. 


A  Paper  read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  held  at  Montreal,  in  August,  1882. 


Reprinted  from  tbe  "American  Antlqnarian"  lor  lanaary  and  April,  1883. 


CHICAGO: 

Jameson  &  Morse,  Printers,  162  164  Clabk  St. 
1883. 


Ill  ilGRMS.  AS  EflDENCED  EI  aWM. 


The  (tn!\-  s.itisfactoij-  c\icloncc  of  tlic  .'iffiliation  or  direct  rela- 
tionship of  two  coiiiniunities,  apart  from  authentic  historical 
records,  is  to  be  found  in  their  speech.  When  the  languaf^es 
'of  two  nations  or  tribes  show  a  close  resemblance  in  tjrammar 
and  vocabular}',  we  niaj'  at  once  infer  a  common  descent,  if 
not  of  the  whole,  at  least  of  some  portion  of  the  two  commu- 
nities. This  is  a  rule  which,  so  far  as  experience  goes,  atlmits 
of  no  exception.  The  cases  which  are  frecpiently  referred  to, 
of  negroes  in  the  West  Indies  antl  the  Southern  States  m  ho 
speak  I'2nglish,  l''rench,  Spanish  and  Dutch,  and  of  Indians  in 
Canada  and  Mexico  who  speak  I'rcnch  and  S])anish,  are  not 
exceptions,  but  may,  in  fact,  be  reckf)ned  among  the  strongest 
evidences  in  proof  of  the  rule;  because  we  know  hist(M'icall}' 
that,  in  every  one  of  these  cases,  there  has  been  not  merely  an 
intimate  connection  of  these  negroes  and  Indians  with  people 
of  the  nations  whose  languages  th.e)'  ha\e  adopted,  but  a  large 
infusion  of  the  blood  of  those  nations.  It  ma}*  be  affirmed 
with  confidence  that  no  contrarj-  examjile  can  be  shown.  If 
an  explorer  should  find  in  the  heart  of  y\frica,  or  in  some  newl)- 
disco\ered  island  of  iVustralasia,  a  black  and  woollj'-haired 
people  whose  language  showed  in  its  numerals,  its  pronouns, 
its  names  for  near  relationships,  and  the  conjugation  of  its 
verbs,  imlubitable  traces  of  resemblance  to  the  Arabic  tongue, 
we  should  infer  w  ithout  hesitation  not  merely  that  this  people 
had  been  at  some  time  visited  b)-  Arabs,  but  that  an  Arabian 
people  had  been  in  some  way  intermingled  among  them  for 
generations,  and  had  left,  along  with  their  language,  a  large  in- 
fusion of  Arab  blood.  If,  besides  the  resemblance  of  speech, 
there  should  be  a  resemblance  of  physical  traits, — if  the  people 
not  only  spoke  a  language  similar  to  the  Arabic,  but  had  the 
stature,  features,  complexion  and  hair  of  Arabs, — we  should 
entertain  no  doubt  that  the\-  were,  in  the  main,  of  Arabian 
descent. 

WHien  the  evidence  of  language  has  satisfied  us  that  two 
communities  are  thus  connected,  our  next  inquirj-  relates  to  the 
nature  of  the  connection.  Is  one  of  them  derived  from  the 
other,  and  if  so,  which  was  the  ancestral  stock  ?  Or  is  this  con- 
nection that  of  brotherhood,  and  do  they  deduce  their  origin 


aiul  their  laiii^Mia^cs,  like  tlic  Latin  nation^  of  soutlu-rn  Fairope, 
frcMii  a  coinnum  anccstrx'  ?  The  chies  w  liich  w  ill  had  us  to  tiic 
sohitii)!!  of  these  ciucstions  iiuist  a^aiii  be  soiij^ht  in  the  evi- 
dence ot"  lantiuaL,re,  antl  [.generally  in  minute  ami  careful  com- 
parison of  words  ami  grammatical  forms;  but  this  cxidence 
ma)'  be  reinforced  b}'  that  of  tr.idition,  which,  when  it  exists, 
will  usuall)-  bo  found  to  correspond  with  that  of  lanj^ua^e.  The 
Hindoo  tratlition,  whicii  makes  the  Aryans  enter  India  from 
the  northwest  in  prehistoric  times,  and  ^n-adualh'  oxerrun  the 
northern  j)ortion  of  the  peninsula,  acconls  strict!)-,  as  ever)- 
scholar  knows,  with  the  deiluctions  drawn  from  the  stud)- 
of  the  lan^ua<4es  of  that  region.  So,  too,  the  Polynesian  race, 
which  peopled  the  t^n-oups  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  on  the  north  to  New  Zealand  on  the  south,  and 
from  luister  Island  in  the  east  to  the  Depeyster  Group,  four 
thousand  miles  distant  in  the  west,  is  traced  back,  by  the  joint 
evidence  of  l;;ntjuai;e  and  tratlition,  to  a  startint^  point  or  cen- 
ter of  mii^ration  in  the  Samoan  or  Navigator  Islands,  near  the 
western  limit  of  this  vast  region.  Though  the  emigration 
which  peopled  some  of  the  eastern  groups  must  have  taken 
place  at  least  three  thousand  years  ago,  the  fact  of  its  occur- 
rence is  uncpiestionable.  This  instance  is  made  the  more  nota- 
ble by  the  circumstance  that  neither  the  source  nor  the  direction 
of  the  migration  is  sucii  as  merely  geographical  considerations 
would  have  led  us  to  conjecture.  New-  Zealand  and  the 
Sandwich  Islands  are  by  far  the  largest  groups  of  Polynesia. 
When  first  known  to  luirojjcaiis,  each  of  these  groups  con- 
tained a  much  greater  population  than  the  mother  group  of 
Samoa.  I'rom  either  of  them  the  usual  course  of  winds  and 
currents  would  carry  a  fleet  of  canoes  to  the  other  islands  of 
Polynesia  far  more  readily  than  from  the  Navigator  Islands, 
whence  the  voyager  must  make  his  way  to  the  eastern  groups 
directly  in  the  teeth  of  the  trade-winds.  These  considerations, 
however,  have  had  no  weight  in  the  minds  of  ethnologists 
against  the  decisive  test  of  language,  reinforced,  as  it  is,  by 
the  evidence  of  native  tradition. 

In  studying  the  languages  of  this  continent  we  are  naturally 
led  to  inquire  how  far  we  can  apply  these  tests  of  language 
and  tradition  in  tracing  the  connection  and  migration  of  the 
Indian  tribes.  It  is  evident  aL  once  that  in  making  such  inqui- 
ries we  are  confined  in  each  case  to  tribes  speaking  languages 
of  the  same  stock.  For  though  there  is,  unquestionably,  a 
certain  general  congruity  of  structure  among  Indian  languages 
of  different  stocks,  sufficient  to  stiengthen  the  common  opin- 
ion, derived  from  physical  and  mental  resemblances,  which 
classes  the  people  who  speak  them   in  one   race,  yet  this  con- 


j^ruity  tk)cs  not  comprise  that  distinct  and  specific  similarity 
in  words  and  forms  which  is  recpiired  as  a  prt)of  of  direct  affil- 
iation. In  the  present  state  of  phiioUjjfical  science  we  must, 
therefore,  as  has  been  said,  limit  our  inquiries  to  the  tribes  of 
each  distinct  linj^iiistic  family,  includin{j[,  however,  such  as  may 
possibly  have  been  formed  by  the  intermixture  of  tribes  of  dif- 
ferent stocks. 

The  ji;roup  of  kindred  tribes  to  which,  in  pursuing  these  in- 
quiries, my  attention  was  first  directed,  was  that  which  is  com- 
monly known  as  the  Iluron-lroquois  family,  but  which  I  should 
•be  rather  inclined,  for  reasons  that  will  be  hereafter  stated,  to 
denominate  the  Huron-Cherokee  stock.  A  peculiar  interest 
attaches  to  the  aboriginal  nations  of  this  kinship.  Surrounded 
as  they  usually  were,  in  various  parts  of  the  continent,  by 
tribes  of  different  lineage, — .Mgonkin,  Dakota,  Choctaw,  and 
others, — they  maintained  everywhere  a  certain  pre-eminence, 
and  manifested  a  force  of  will  and  a  capacity  for  political 
organization  which  placed  them  at  the  head  of  the  Indian  com- 
munities in  the  whole  region  e.xtending  from  Mexico  to  the 
Arctic  circle.  Their  languages  show,  in  their  elaborate  mech- 
anism, as  well  as  in  their  fulness  of  expression  and  grasp  of 
thought,  the  evidence  of  the  mental  capacity  of  those  who 
speak  them.  Scholars  who  admire  the  inflections  of  the  Greek 
and  Sanscrit  verb,  with  their  expressive  force  and  clearness, 
will  not  be  less  impressed  with  the  ingenious  structure  of  the 
verb  in  Iroquois.  It  comprises  nine  tenses,  three  moods,  the 
active  and  passive  voices,  and  at  least  twenty  of  those  forms 
which  in  the  Semitic  grammars  are  styled  conjugations.  The 
very  names  of  these  forms  will  suffice  to  give  evidence  of  the 
care  and  minuteness  with  which  the  framers  of  this  remarkable 
language  have  endeavored  to  express  every  shade  of  meaning. 
We  have  the  diminutive  and  augmentative  forms,  the  cis-loca- 
tive  and  trans-locative,  the  duplicative,  reiterative,  motional, 
causative,  progressive,  attributive,  frequentative,  and  many 
others.  I  am  aware  that  some  European  and  American  schol- 
ars, shocked  to  find  their  own  mother-tongues  inferior  in  this 
respect  not  only  to  the  Sanscrit  and  Greek,  but  even  to  the 
languages  of  some  uncivilized  tribes,  have  adopted  the  view 
that  inflections  are  a  proof  of  imperfection  and  a  relic  of 
barbarism.  They  apparently  forget  that  if  they  vindicate 
in  this  way  a  superiority  for  their  native  idiom  over  the 
Greek  and  the  Iroquois,  they  reduce  it  at  the  same  time,  not 
only  below  the  Mandchu  and  Polynesian  tongues,  but  beneath 
even  the  poverty-stricken  speech  of  the  Chinese.* 

♦  In  aupport  of  the  opinion  expressed  in  the  text,  I  may  cite  two  very  eminent  author- 
ities. ProfeBBor  Max  Miiller,  who  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Iroquois  language  from  a 
Mohawk  undergraduate  at  Oxford  (now  Dr.  Oronhyatekha,  of  TiOndon,  Ont.),  remarks  in  a 


The  CDiistant  tradition  <»f  the  Iiu(|ii()i^  roprcsonts  their  ances- 
tors as  cini^Mants  from  the  region  nt)rth  of  the  j4real  laki-s, 
where  they  thveh  in  early  times  with  their  Huron  brethren. 
This  tradition  is  recorded,  with  much  particuhuit)',  by  Cadwal- 
lader  Colden,  Surveyor  (ieneral  of  New  \'ork,  who  in  the  earl\- 
part  of  the  hist  century  composed  his  well-known  "llislor\'  of 
the  Five  Nations."  It  is  told  in  a  somewhat  different  form  by 
David  Cusick,  the  Tuscarora  historian,  in  his  "Sketches  of  An- 
cient History  of  the  Six  Nations;"  and  it  is  repeated  b)-  Mr. 
L.  H.  Morgan  in  his  now  classical  work,  "The  League  of  the 
Iroquois, "'for  which  he  procured  his  information  chieHj-  amon^ 
the  Senecas.  h'inally,  as  we  learn  from  the  narrative  of  the 
Wyandot  Indian,  Peter  Clarke,  in  his  book  entitled  "Ori^Mii 
and  Traditional  History  of  the  W'yandotls,"  the  belief  of  the 
Hurons  accords  in  this  respect  with  that  of  the  Irocpiois.  Moth 
point  alike  to  the  country  immediately  north  of  the  St.  Lau- 
rence, and  especially  to  that  portion  of  it  lyin^  east  of  Lake 
Ontario,  as  the  early  home  of  the  Huron-Iroquois  nations. 

How  far  does  the  evidence  of  lani^uage,  w  hich  is  the  final 
test,  a^ree  with  that  of  tradition  ?  To  answer  this  question 
we  have  to  inquire  which  lanj^ua^e,  the  Huron  or  the  Iroquois, 
bears  marks  of  being  oldest  in  form,  and  nearest  to  the  mother 
language, — or,  in  other  words,  to  the  original  Huron-Iroquois 
speech.  Though  we  know  nothing  directlj-  of  this  speech,  yet. 
when  we  have  several  sister-tongues  of  any  stock,  we  can 
always  reconstruct,  with  more  or  less  corupleteness,  the  original 
language  from  which  they  were  derived;  and  we  know,  as  a 
general  rule,  that  among  these  sister-tongues,  the  one  which  is 
most  complete  in  its  form  and  in  its  phonology  is  likely  to  be 
nearest  in  structure,  as  well  as  in  the  residence  of  those  who 
speak  it,  to  this  mother  speech.  Thiis,  if  history  told  us  noth- 
ing on  the  subject,  we  should  still  infer  that,  among  what  are 
termed  the  Latin  nations  of  Europe,  the  Italians  were  nearest 
to  the  mother  people, — and,  in-  like  manner,  that  the  original 
home  of  the  Aryans  was  not  among  the  Teutons  or  the  Celts, 
but  somewhere  between  the  speakers  of  the  Sanscrit  and  of 
the  Greek  languages. 

Our  mater-als  for  a  comparison  of  the  Huron  and  the  Iro- 
quois are  not  as  full  as  could  be  desired.      They  are,  however. 

letter  to  the  author;  "  Tu  iny  mind,  tba  Htnioture  of  tjuch  a  lunguage  aa  the  Mohawk  is 
quite  sutnciunt  evidence  that  those  who  worked  out  8u<;h  a  work  of  art  wore  poworlul 
reasoners  and  accurate  clasaiilerH."  Not  Ibrs  ouiphatic  is  the  judgment  expressed  by  I'ni- 
lessor  Whitney,  in  his  admirable  work  on  tlie  "lAie  and  Growth  of  Language."  Spoiikiiig 
generally  of  Mie  atruoturo  of  American  languages,  but  in  terms  specially  applical)le  to 
those  of  the  Huron-Cherokee  stock,  he  observes :  "Of  course  there  are  infinite  posaibilitiuB 
of  expresBivenesK  in  such  «.  structure ;  and  it  would  only  need  that  some  native-American 
Oreek  race  should  iirise,  to  fill  it  full  of  thought  and  fancy,  and  put  it  to  the  uses  of  a 
noble  literature,  and  it  would  be  rightly  admired  as  rich  and  flexible,  perhaps  beyond  any- 
thing else  that  the  world  knew. "  See  also  the  excellent  works  of  the  distinguished  niiK- 
Bionary  author,  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Cuoq,  of  Montreal,  on  the  Ii-oquois  and  Algonquin  laiuiuases, 
in  which  abundant  examples  are  given  of  the  richness  and  power  of  those  tongues. 


(|iiit».'  sufikicnl  to  show  that  thi-  Huron  represents  tlie  older 
form  of  their  conuuon  speech.  A  siiij^'le  pohit  of  plionology 
ina\'  be  cleenied  decisive  of  this  cpiestion.  The  Iroquois  dia- 
lects, as  is  well  known,  have  no  labial  letter.  Neither  m, />,  or 
jt  is  found  in  an\'  IrtJipiois  word,  and  the  lanj^uage  is  spoken  with- 
out closure  of  the  lips.  Hut  in  the  Huron  speech,  or  rather  (as 
there  were  at  least  two  distinct  dialects  of  this  speech),  in  that 
form  of  it  which  is  spoken  bj-  the  W'yandots  (or  Wendat),  and 
which  bears  the  marks  of  bein^  t'le  oldest  form  of  this  lan- 
^uaj^fe,  the  sound  of  the  in  is  frequenti)'  heard.  A  compari- 
'  son  of  the  words  in  which  this  sound  occurs  with  the  corres- 
l)ondin^  words  of  the  Irocpiois  dialects,  shows  beyond  question 
that  tiiis  sound  once  existed  in  the  mother-tongue  from  whicli 
these  words  were  derived,  and  has  been  lost  in  the  Iroquois. 
We  find  that  this  Huron  m  has  at  least  five  distinct  sounds  or 
c(jmbinations  of  sounds  to  represent  it  in  the  Iroquois.  By 
this  fact  we  are  reminded  of  the  similar  fate  which  has  befallen 
in  lui^lisii  the  Teutonic  guttural  r/i  (as  heard  in  the  (ierman 
words  Jhirh,  Loch,  hicficii,  ^c),  which,  after  surviving  for  a 
time  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  language,  has  disappeared  from  the 
I'jiglish  speech.  In  some  ICnglish  words,  as  we  know,  its 
place  has  been  taken  by  the  palatal  /•/  IJuch  has  become  io«X-, 
machen  is  changed  to  ninke,  and  so  on.  In  other  cases  it  is 
converted  to  fcli ;  the  (ierman  pech  is  our  jr'itt'h,  the  German 
dach  is  our  thatch.  In  still  other  cases  it  is  changed  toy',  as  in 
laiKjh  from  lachen,  mft  from  saeht;  while  in  many  more  in- 
stances it  has  been  dropped  altogether  as  a  distinct  element,  its 
former  existence  being  merely  indicated  by  its  influence  on  the 
sound  of  the  preceding  vowel, — as  in  thowjht  from  the  German 
daehte,  hUjh  from  the  German  hoch,  might  from  the  German 
macht,  and  so  on,  in  numerous  words  which  will  occur  to  every 
student  of  etymology.  Tn  close  accordance  with  this  treat- 
ment of  the  (ierman  guttural  by  the  English  organs  of 
speech  is  that  of  the  Huron  labial  by  the  Iroquois.  In 
many  instances  the  Huron  in,  becomes  to  in  Iroquois.  Thus 
ternentaye,  "  two  days,  "  becomes  in  (3nondaga  teircntaye; 
yaiiiehron,  "  dead,  "  is  in  Cayuga  yaicelii:on;  skatamend- 
jawc,  "one  hundred,"  becomes  in  Mohawk  asJiatawaniawi. 
Sometimes  the  sound  of  the  nasal  ;7  (resembling  the  French 
nasal  in  hon),  is  introduced  before  the  w;  thus  the  Huron 
oina,  "to-day,"  becomes  oriwd  in  Mohawk;  the  pronominal 
prefix  A«w<«,  "their,"  hccovnc'r,  h onion.  Frequently  this  latter 
combination  is  further  reinforced  by  the  hard  palatal  ele- 
ment k'  or  <f,  after  the  nasal;  thus  the  Huron  ruvie,  "man," 
becomes  in  Mohawk  rtihywe  or  runJcire;  "he  loves  us,"  which 
is  somandorouhva  in    Huron,   becomes    sonl'wanoroT^kwa  in 


Mohawk  Soimliiius  the  ///  is  rcphiCL-tl  by  a  nasal  followed 
by  an  aspirate;  thus  Mo/iu'tn,  "thou  alone,  "  becomes  nonhfin. 
The  Huron  nwiiKt,  "tobacco,"  is  sin^uilarl)-  transfornieil.  The 
first  ///  becomes  in  Irocpiois  ni/^  and  the  second  is  rcpresenteil 
by  the  combination  ///•//'.  thus  l,m\  inj;  us  the  Mohawk  i>i/ePik'ii'a. 
In  these  inst.mces  tlu-  Huron  words  are  undoubtedly  the  ori^M- 
nal  forms,  from  which  the  Iroquois  words  arc  derived.  Sonu 
other  evidences  of  a  similar  kind,  which  show  that  the  Huron 
is  the  elder  speech,  will  be  hereafter  adduced,  thouj^jh  the\- 
may  perhaps  hardl\'  be  deemed  necessar)-. 

Our  next  iiupiir)-  relates  to  the  course  which  the  etni^ration 
pursued  after  crossinj^^  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  I rocpu»is  proper 
(omittinj;  for  the  pri'sent  the  Tuscarc.ias),  are  divided  into  five 
tribes  or  "nations,"  speaking  dialects  so  ilissimilar  that  the 
missionaries  have  been  ol)lij,a'd  to  treat  them  as  distinct  lan- 
j^nia^es.  The  difference  between  the  Mohawk  and  the  Seneca 
ton^aies  is  at  least  as  ^reat  as  that  w  hich  exists  between  the 
Spanish  and  l*orluj.,aiese  lant;ua^es.  These  fi\e  tribes,  when 
they  were  first  known  to  ICuropeans,  occupied  the  northern 
portion  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York,  their  territorj- 
extending'  from  the  Hudson  river  on  the  east  to  the  (ienesee 
on  the  west.  The  easternmost  tribe  w as  the  Mohawk.  Directly 
west  t)f  them  lay  the  Oneidas,  follow  eil  in  regular  order  by  the 
Ononda^Ms,  CajHi-j^as  antl  Senecas.  Of  these  tribes  the  Sene- 
ca was  much  the  largest,  comprising  nearly  as  man}'  people 
as  all  the  rest  to^rether.  The  Onoiula^'as  were  the  central,  and, 
to  a  certain  extent,  the  rulini;  nation  of  the  league.  If  we 
had  not  the  evidence  of  language  and  tradition  t(»  guide  us, 
the  natural  presumption  would  be  that  either  the  Senecas  or 
the  Onontlagas  were  the  parent  tribe,  of  which  the  others  were 
offshoots.  Hut  tradition  and  language  alike  award  this  posi- 
tion to  the  Mohawks.  This  nation  was  styled  in  council  the 
"eldest  brother"  of  the  lro(pu)is  famih".  Tlie  native  historian 
Cusick  distinctly  affirms  that  the  other  tribes  broke  off  from 
the  Mohawk  people,  one  after  another,  and  as  each  became  a 
separate  nation,  "its  language  was  altered."  The  words  thus 
quoted  express  briefi)-,  but  accurately,  the  necessary  result  of 
several  generations  of  separate  existence.  It  remains  to  .show 
how  the  test  of  language  confirms  the  tradition,  and  proves 
beyond  question  that  the  course  of  migration  flowed  from  east 
to  west.  The  follow  ing  comparative  list  is  derived  from  vocab- 
ularies, all  of  which  have  been  recently  taken  down  by  the 
writer  from  the  lips  of  members  of  the  various  tribes.  The 
Wyandot  words  arc  placed  first,  as  being  probably  nearest  to 
the  original  forms  in  the  parent  language.  Then  follow  the 
five  Iroquois  tribes,  in  regular  order,  from  east  to  west;  and 


finally  the  'luscarora,  a  sister,  rather  than  a  dauj^htcr.  »»f  the 
Mohawk,  closes  the  Mst.  In  this  con'piirison.  certain  inflec- 
tions of  the  verb  "to  lo\i'"lia\e  hien  selected,  as  showing'  how 
the  course  of  derivation  is  ihsclostnl  both  1)\'  the  changes  of 
sounds  and  by  the  grammatical  \ariations.* 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  lind  a  more  striking  and  l)eautiful 
exam[)le  than  the  annexed  list  furnishes  of  the  operation  of  a 
well-known  linguistic  law.  I  nfer  to  the  l.i\\  of  "phonetic 
decay,"  as  it  is  called  l)\-  Professor  Max  Midler,  who  has  de- 
scribed its  origin  and  effect,  with  his  usual  clearness  of  style 
and  fulness  of  illustration,  in  the  Sicond  Series  of  his  "Lect- 
ures on  Language."  Me  then-  shows  how  words,  either  by 
la])se  of  time  or  change  of  locality,  are  apl  to  undergo  a  course 
of  reduction  and  contraction,  due  to  the  desire  of  econcmiizing 
(effort  in  speaking.  The  words  a/e  softened  iwnl  worn  away, 
like  stones  undergoiug  what  geologists  call  the  pr(»cess  of 
degradation.*  Thus,  to  atl(»pt  an<i  exteiul  some  of  his  examples, 
the  German  llabiclit  become.-,  the  Anglo-Saxon  /lafoc,  and  the 
h'nglish  litVi^'L-;  tiie  Ciernian  s/>rit/uii  becomes  the  Anglo-Saxon 
.sy>/V(V///,  and  the  ICnglisli  s/>iak;  the  (ierman  liaitpt  becomes 
the  Anglo-Saxon  licafod ,  and  tin-  Lnglish  head.  So,  drawing 
our  examples  from  words  of  another  origin,  the  Latin  sculnrius 
becomes  in  old  l-'reiuh  csciiycr,  in  Lnglish  Si/iiiir;  the  Latin 
capitulnni  becomes  in  hrench  c/iapitrc,  in  I'^nglish  chapter^  and 
so  on.  Referring  to  our  table  of  Muron-lrocjuois  ilerivati\es, 
it  will  be  noticed  that  the  Wyandot  hishi^'andiyroi'ik'x^ux  is  soft- 
ened in  Mohawk  ti>  i/ifs/iiscu'iiiicrni'ik'-uui  by  a  uniform  process 
of  what  may  be  termed  deliquescence.  The  initial  aspirate  of 
the  Wyandot  word  is  dropped  (or  perhaps  changed  in  position); 
the  first  k  is  s;)fttMicd  to  ts/i,  precisely  as  the  name  of  the  great 
orator,  which  in  Latin  was  Kikcro,  becomes  Tshilslicro  in  Ital- 
ian pronunciation;  the  sibilant  .v  changes  its  place,  and  the 
hard  sountl  0(111/  becomes  simpl)-  //.  .  The  still  softer  (Oneida 
utterance  contracts  the  first  three  syllables  of  the  Mohawk 
[c/i-ts/ii-Si)  to  its,  and  changes  the  trilled  /to  the  licpiid  /,  giv- 
ing us  cts-a'diio/oiikwa.  The  Oiiondaga,  pursuing  the  same 
process,  changes  the  initial  cts  to  the  still  softer  /icsi\  and  drops 
the  /'altogether,  still  retai  ling,  however, — though  with  a  slight 
change, — the  vowels  which  preceded  and  followed  it,  and  thus 
converts  the  word  to  /icsc'r^'tviocnk'icn.  The  Cayuga,  following 
in  due  order,  contracts  these  two  vowels  into  one,  and  converts 
the  initial  /icsc  into  sis,  but  introduces,  by  a  slight  reversion  to 

•In  the  orthography  followed  in  tliiti  juiiicr  tho  conHoniiiits  have  n<'norally  the  name 
HOundH  aH  in  English,  linil  th«  vowels  thti  smuk-  Hoinuls  aw  in  Italian  and  frenlian.  'J  he  j 
is  sounded  as  in  Froncli,  or  lilte  the  Ent,'liRh  z  in  tizure.  Tlic  (Jennan  giittnrnl  ch  is  repre- 
sented by  kh  or  (when  softejied)  by  (y/i.  The  French  nasal  ii  is  exjuvHsed  by  the  Spanish  ». 
The  short  u  (AH  it  is  called)  in  hut  is  denoted  by  ii.  The  emphatic  syllable  of  a  word  is 
indicated  by  an  acute  accent,  or,  when  the  vowel  Ih  long,  by  tho  usual  horizontal  mark 
Bbove  it,  as  <(.  6,  Ac. 


8 


1 

<3 

>. 

*- 

s 

■« 

5 

i 

I 

a 
H 

■3 
1 

1 

'ft 
ft 

<3 

1 

ft 

1 

IS 

s 

••• 

-*; 

1 

;ft 
ft 

1 
;ft 

Ik 
■5 

1 

ft 

1 

t 

ft 

1 

Ik 

8 

5 

1 

'ft 

■%. 

ft 

ft 

;ft 
Ik 

ft 

d 

<< 

5 

t        *^ 

i 

■i 

o 

u 

J 
1 

IS 

s 

1 

L 

'ft 

ft 

'ft 

^ 

J 

a 

1 

_  <5_ 

_l_ 

^ 
* 

ft 

I" 

ft 

IS 

1 

ft 

5 

1 
Ift 

8 
i 

1 

ft 

^ 

1 

'ft 

ft 

i 

<3 
1 

ft 

1 

'5" 

ft 

1 
ft 

•SI 

A. 

1 

;ft 

ft 

ft 
ft 

-»< 
Ift 

8 

ft 

1 

'ft 
'ft 

8 
« 

ft 
ft 

« 

« 

t 

1 

8 

5 
<< 

ft 

1 

;ft 
K 

A 

1 

'5* 

ft 

1 

1 
•ft 

"i 
ft 

1 

ft 

i 

|ft 
ft 

«3 

•ft 

'ft 

"i 
8 

;ft 

8 

1 

|ft 
ft 
.5 

1 

-<! 

'ft 
't 

ft 

'5; 

1 
•ft 

Ift 

Ift 
ft 

1 
-ft 

Ift 
ft 

c 

1 

"§ 

_l_ 

S 

5 

S 

<3 

8 
ft 

Ift 
^=1 

1 

15 

« 

« 

Q 

« 

1  ^ 

1      0 

1    < 

i 

•A 

o 

1 

1 

■S 

ft 

'a 

1 

ft 

1 
ft 

J 

'ft 

1 

ft 

<<1 

ft 

1 

;ft 

8 

■S 
ft 

13 

<<: 

(^ 

";. 
li 
8 

3 

<-5 

■3 

1 
'ft 

ft 

3 

1 

'ft 

-*: 
ft 

ft 

U5 

Ift 

1 
1 

<i 

V 

••» 

^ 

%: 

M 

■^ 

•<<: 

\* 

ft 

•s 

<3 

•te 

•<5 

■«_ 

s 

_!?•_ 

_..?_ 

«_ 

__^_ 

_**= 

<3 

•ft 

_?__ 

•ft 

Q 

s 

Q 

53 

^ 

"3 

« 

« 

Oneida. 

<3 

1 

'1 

i 
<< 

'ft 

^■1 

•<< 

'ft 

•si 

ft 

^ft 

i 

s 

Ift 

13 

■<<; 

;ft 
<; 

li 

.ft 

8 

>-* 

'ft 
1 

i 

'ft 

ft 

(S; 

8 

13 

•« 

'ft 

•5; 

ft 
ft 

.1 

i 

s 

ft 

ft 

ift 

^ 

"i 
<< 

■5 

g 

"S 

i 

5 

3 
ft 

** 
^ 
<< 

■<: 

.J_ 

\: 

<-> 

„^ 

•C 

^ 

!\ 

■2 

^ 

S 

y 

1" 

•v: 

i 

■< 
Hi 

1 

5 

•<< 

Ift 

1 

« 
a 

■3 

S 

3 
1 

1 

1 

1 

'S 

ft 

1 

1 
■I?  • 

s 

■v: 

Ift 

•^ 

,'ft 

'ft 

1 

ft 

1 
ft 

13 

'1 
ft 

•ft 

^1 

•<< 

ft 

'ft 

'ft 
»^ 
ft 
ft 

1 

^ 

'C 

*** 

__<i_ 

5 

13 

^ 

** 

%1 

ft 

_J,_ 

~»" 

5 

Q 

i 

ft 

1 

S 

? 

^• 

3 

« 

5 

3 

1 

'A 

•< 
Sh 

•<< 

s 

1 

1 

'ft 

a 

<•< 

^Ift 
8 

1 

I-- 
■« 

ft 

1 

•5 

ft 
1 

J 

5 

3 

8 

i 

1 

'ft 
"ft 

ft 

ft 

s 

_c 

11 

•? 

3 
O 

e 

_-ft_ 

-ft 

ft 

« 
_<;_ 

ft 
•ft 

g 

i 

,s 

c 

u 

■r 

JS 

s 

11 

u 

t/5 

3 

J2 
11 

•r 

<u 

(J 

(A 

lU 

> 

u 

> 

_0 

> 

> 

_o 

0 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

V 

> 

^ 

_o 

_0 

0^ 

0 

i 

_o 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

1-4 

0 

t-M 

1) 

Tl 
1^ 

D 

is 

>< 

11 

11 

H 

9 

harslincss  of  utterance,  an  aspirate  after  the  ft)lU)\ving  nasal, 
giving  us  si's-uuriidn/ik'-u'd.  And,  fnially,  tlie  Senecas  of  the 
extreme  west  drop  tliat  unnecessarj'  aspirate,  anil  in  lieu  of 
the  difficult  Wyandot  woril  /ivs/cwandoronk'ud ,  and  the  seven- 
syllabled  Mohawk  term,  i/its/iisiictiiioronkwa,  y,"i\e  us  a  word  of 
four  syllables,  Si-sx>.'am>r/A'7iUJ,  quite  as  easily  spoken  and  at  least 
as  euphonious  as  its  ICnglish  translation,  "he  K)ves  nou.  "  Nt» 
person  accustomed  to  the  stud}-  of  linguistics  w  ill  doubt,  after 
carefully  examining  this  comparati\e  list,  that  the  Mohawk 
presents  the  earliest  form  of  the  Iroquois  speech,  and  is  itself 
a  later  form  than  the  Wyandot.  It  will  be  ec|uall}-  cxident 
that  the  Tuscarora,  though  closely  allied  to  the  Mohawk,  is 
rather  a  sister  than  a  daughter  language.  it  is  clear  that  the 
separation  of  the  i  uscaroras  from  the  proper  Iroquois  took 
place  in  earl)'  times,  and  that  each  language  has  since  pursued 
its  own  course  of  de\elopment. — that  of  the  Iroquois  in  their 
chosen  abode  along  the  Mohawk  River,  and  that  of  the  Tus- 
caroras  in  their  southern  asylum,  between  the  Roanoke  antl 
the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

Following  the  same  course  of  migration  from  the  northeast 
to  the  southwest,  which  leails  us  from  the  Hurons  of  eastern 
Canada  to  the  Tuscaroras  of  central  North  Carolina,  we  come 
to  the  Chert)kees  of  northern  Alabama  and  (ieorgia.  A  con- 
nection between  their  language  and  that  of  the  Iroquois  has 
long  been  suspected,  (^dlatin.  in  his  "Synopsis  of  Indian  Lan- 
guages," remarks  on  this  subject:  "Dr.  Barton  thought  that 
the  Cherokee  language  belongetl  to  the  Iroqiu)is  famil\\  and 
on  this  point  I  am  inclined  to  be  of  the  same  o[)inion.  The 
affinities  are  few  and  remote,  but  there  is  a  similarit\-  in  the 
general  termination  of  s\llables,  in  the  pronunciation  and  ac- 
cent, which  has  struck  some  of  the  native  Cherokces.  We 
ha\'e  not  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  grammar,  and  general!}- 
of  the  language,  of  the  I'"ive  Nations  t(^  deciiie  that  (juestion.  " 
The  tlifficulty  arising  from  this  lack  of  knowledge  is  now 
removed;  and  with  it  all  uncertainty  disappears.  The  simi- 
larity of  the  two  tongues,  apparent  enough  in  m.in)-  of  their 
words,  is  most  strikingly  shown,  as  might  be  ex[)ected, 
in  their  grammatical  structure,  and  especially  in  the  affixed 
pronouns,  which  in  both  languages  play  so  important  a  part. 
The  resemblance  may,  perhaps,  best  be  show  n  by  giving  the 
pronouns  in  the  form  in  which  they  arc  combined  with  a  suf- 
fixed syllable  to  render  the  meaning  e.xpressed  by  the  English 
self  or  alom\ — "1  myself,"  or  "I  alone,"  &c. 


10 


I  alone 
Thou  alone 
He  alone 
We  two  alone 
Ye  two  alone 


IROQUOIS.  cherokp:k. 

akoTihda  akit' tins  fin 

soft/ifia  tsiinsCin. 

raoiilifia  [/laon/ifia)  invashn 

onkinonhaa  ginnnshri 

scuoTilida  (Huron,  ston/iaa)        islnFtxiiri 
We  alone  (pi)  oiikiohlu'ttx  ikfiTisfih 

Ye  alone  tsioTihda  (Hiu-on,  tsonhad)  itshnsfui 

They  alone         roiKui/infi  {/toiiori/ifur)  tinfinsfin 

If  from  the  foreiroini;  list  we  omit  the  terminal  suffixes  Una 
and  sno,  which  differ  in  the  two  languages,  the  close  resem- 
blance of  the  prefixed  pronouns  is  apparent,  tlqually  evident 
is  the  fact  that  the  Cherokee  pronouns,  particularly  in  the  third 
])erson  singular  and  plural,  and  in  the  first  person  dual  and 
plural,  are  softened  and  contracted  forms  of  the  Iroquois  pro- 
nouns. 

To  form  the  verbal  transitions,  as  they  are  termed,  in  which 
the- action  of  a  transitive  verb  passes  from  an  agent  to  an  ob- 
ject, both  languages  prefix  the  pronouns,  in  a  combined  form, 
to  the  verb,  saying,  "I-thee  love,"  "thou-me  lovest,"  and  the 
like.  These  combined  pronouns  are  similar  in  the  two  lan- 
guages, as  the  following  examples  will  show: 

IROQUOIS.  CHEROKKK. 

T-thee  kon  or  konyc  gunya 

I -him  ria,  liia  tsiya 

He- me  raka,  haka  akiva 

He- us  sonkxK'a  tcaivka 

Thou-him  Ida  liiya 

Thou-them  slicia  tcgihya 

They- me  ronkc,  lionkc  giinkica 

They- us  yoTtkc  tcyaivka 

The  following  list  will  show  the  similarity  in  other  words  of 


common  occurrence: 

Woman 
Hoy 
Girl 
•  Fire 
Water 
Lake 
Stone 
Sky 
Arrow 
Pipe 
Beaver 
Great 
Old 


IROQUOIS. 
yungzoc,  ycon,  (Seneca) 
/laksfta 
yiksita 
otsilc 
aivcTi 

iiniatalc     . 
ononya 
kalonhia 
ka'na' 

kaiiiiTnunoa 
tsntayi  (Huron) 
kozca 
nkayoFi 


t;MEROKKK. 

agcyfih 

atsatsa 

ayayutsa 

atsilhn 

ama 

undalc 

nimya 

galtmloi 

ganc 

ganttTiJia^iL'a 

tawyi 

ckiva 

ogayfinli 


11 

The  resemblance  in  most  cases  is  here  so  ^aeat  that  the  doubt 
whicli  has  existed  as  to  the  connection  of  the  two  lani^ua^es 
may  seem  unaccountable.  It  must  be  stated,  however,  that 
these  words  are  selected  from  a  much  larj^^er  list  of  vocables, 
in  most  of  which  the  resemblance  is  not  apparent.  In  some 
of  them  it  exists,  l)ut  {greatly  dis^aiisetl  by  sinj^ular  distortions 
of  pronunciation,  while  in  otliers  the  Cherokee  words  differ 
utterl}'  from  those  of  the  Huron-Iroquois  lan^q;ua^res,  and  are 
apparently  derived  from  a  different  source.  There  seems,  in 
fact,  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  Cherokee  is  a  mixed  lanj^ua^e, 
in  which,  as  is  usual  in  such  lan^aia<^fes,  the  grammatical  skele- 
•ton  beloni^'s  to  one  stock,  while  man\'  of  the  words  are  supplied 
by  another.  i\s  is  usual,  also,  in  mixed  lanj^uages,  a  chanf,fe 
in  the  phonoloj^^y  of  the  language  has  taken  place.  A  lan- 
guage which  t\\  o  races  combine  to  speak  must  be  such  as  the 
vocal  organs  of  both  can  readily  pronounce.  In  the  lluron- 
Iroquois  dialects  syllables  frecjuently  end  with  a  consonant.  In 
the  Cherokee  e\'cry  s\dlable  terminates  either  in  a  vowel  or  in 
a  nasal  sound.  In  Iroquois,  for  example,  five  is  wi'sl-;  in  Cher- 
okee it  becomes  hiski,  a  word  which  in  their  pronunciation  is 
divided  hi-ski.  The  Iroquois  raksot  or  haksiit,  grandfather,  is 
in  Cherokee  softened  and  lengthened  to  ctiitii.  The  probable, 
or  at  least  possible,  cause  of  this  mixture,  and  the  source  from 
wh.ch  the  exotic  element  of  the  language  may  have  been  de- 
rived, will  be  hereafter  considered.  Aleanwhile,  the  striking 
fact  has  become  evident  that  the  course  of  migration  of  the 
Huron-Cherokee  family  has  been  from  the  northeast  to  the 
southwest,  that  is,  from  eastern  Canada,  on  the  Lower  St.  Law- 
rence, to  the  mountains  of  Northern  /Mabama. 

Another  important  linguistic  stock  is  that  which  is  known  as 
the  Dakotan  family,  from  the  native  name  of  the  group  or  con- 
federacy called  by  the  T'rench  missionaries  and  travellers  the 
Sioux.  This  family  occupies  a  vast  extent  of  country  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  comprises  many 
distinct  communities,  speaking  allied  though  sometimes  widely 
difterent  languages.  Among  them  are  the  proper  Dakotas 
(including  the  Assiniboins),  the  Omahas,  Osages,  Kansas, 
Otos,  Missouris,  lowas,  Mandans,  llidatsas  or  Minnetarees, 
and  several  others.  A  single  tribe,  the  Winnebagoes,  speak- 
ing a  peculiarly  harsh  and  difficult  language,  dwelt  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  along  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan;  but 
they  Avere  commonly  regarded  by  ethnologists  as  an  offshoot 
of  the  prairie  tribes,  and  as  intruders  into  the  territory  of  the 
Algonkins.  Recent  investigations,  however,  have  disclosed 
the  remarkable  fact  that  tribes  belonging  to  this  family  lived 
in  early  times  east  of  the  Alleghanies,  and   were   found  by 


12 

the  first  explorers  not  far  from  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  tra\-- 
cllcrs  who  met  with  them,  incurious  in  such  matters,  did  not 
take  the  trouble  to  record  the  language  spoken  by  these  tribes; 
and  until  recently  they  have  been  ranked  by  writers  on  Indian 
ethnology  among  the  southern  members  of  the  Iluron-Iroquois 
family.  In  1870  the  last  survivor  of  one  of  these  tribes  was 
still  living,  at  a  great  age,  on  the  Reserve  of  the  Si.x  Nations, 
near  Brantford.  His  people,  the  Tuteloes,  who,  with  several 
allied  tribes,  had  formerly  dwelt  in  southern  Virginia  and  east- 
ern North  Carolina,  had  been  driven  from  those  regions  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century  by  the  white  settlers.  Like  their  neigh- 
bors, the  Tuscaroras,  they  had  fled  for  refuge  to  the  Iroquois, 
whom  they  accompanied  in  their  subsequent  flight  into  Canada. 
A  vocabulary  which  I  took  down  from  his  lips  showed  bej'ond 
question  that  his  people  belonged  to  the  Dakotan  stock.  From 
him,  and  after  his  death  from  some  intelligent  Indians  of  mixed 
race — who,  as  children  of  Iroquois  fathers  by  Tutclo  mothers, 
still  rank  as  Tuteloes,  and  speak  the  language  fluently, — I  ob- 
tained a  sufficient  knowledge  of  this  speech  to  enable  me  to 
compare  it,  not  merely  in  its  phonology  and  its  vocabulary, 
but  also  in  its  grammatical  structure,  Avith  the  Dakotan  lan- 
guages spoken  west  of  the  Mississippi,  so  far  as  these  are 
known,  and  more  particular!}'  with  the  language  of  the  proper 
Dakotas  (or  Sioux)  and  the  Hidatsa,  or  Minnetarees.  These 
two  languages  have  been  carefully  studied  by  able  and  philo- 
sophic investigators,  the  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Riggs  and  Dr.  Wash- 
ington Matthews,  whose  works  are  models  of  clear  and  thorough 
exposition.  The  result  of  this  comparison  has  been  a  convic- 
tion that  the  Tutelo  language  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  form 
of  speech  thus  far  known  in  this  family,  and  that,  so  far  as  a 
judgment  can  be  deduced  from  this  evidence,  the  course  of 
emigration  must  be  considered  to  have  been  from  east  to  west. 
The  fact  that  the  western  members  of  this  linguistic  family  were 
by  far  the  most  numerous  counts  for  nothing  in  such  an  inquiry. 
If  mere  numbers  and  extent  of  territory  are  to  be  deemed  of 
any  value  in  questions  of  this  nature,  we  should  have  to  derive 
the  Polynesians  from  New  Zealand,  the  Portuguese  from  Bra- 
zil, and  the  ICnglish  from  North  America. 

The  following  list  of  words  will  show  how  the  Tutelo  voca- 
bles become  contracted  and  distorted  in  the  western  Dakota 
speech : 


TUTELO. 

I)AKOT.\. 

Blood 

ti.'dyi 

ICC 

Knife 

uiasdrii 

I  sail 

Day 

uiliaTtpi 

aupctit 

Water 

mi'uii 

mini 

Land 

aiiidrii 

viaka 

13 

TLTKLO.  DAKOTA. 

Winter  waneni  z^uiiii 

Autumn  tiini  ptan 

White  (js(i/li  safi 

Black  (isc'jfi  sa/>a 

Cold  Siiiii  sni 

One  /ioiistr  icaiits/ia 

Three  l<iiii  yamui 

Five  kisalu'iTii  zaptau 

Six  akdspc  sliakpc 

Seven  sdgoinink  sJiakmci?! 

The  clearest  evidence,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  a  compar- 
ison of  the  grammatical  characteristics.  It  is  an  established 
law  in  the  science  of  linguistics  that,  in  any  family  of  lan- 
guages, those  which  are  of  the  oldest  formation, — or,  in  other 
words,  which  approach  nearest  to  the  mother  speech, — are  the 
most  highly  inflected.  The  derivative  or  more  recent  tongues 
are  distinguished  by  the  comparative  fewness  of  the  grammat- 
ical changes.  The  difference  in  this  respect  between  the  Tutelo 
and  the  western  branches  of  this  stock  is  so  great  that  they 
seem  to  belong  to  different  categories,  or  genera,  in  the  classi- 
fication of  languages.  The  Tutelo  may  fairly  be  ranked 
among  inflected  tongues,  while  the  Dakota,  the  Hidatsa,  and 
apparently  all  the  other  western  dialects  of  the  stock,  must 
rather  be  classed  with  agglutinated  languages, — the  variations 
of  person,  number,  mood  and  tense  being  chiefly  denoted  by 
affixed  or  inserted  particles.  This  statement  applies  more  par- 
ticularly to  the  Hidatsa.  In  the  Dakota  some  remnants  of  the 
inflected  forms  still  remain. 

Thus,  in  the  Hidatsa  there  is  no  difference,  in  the  present 
tense,  between  the  singular  and  the  plural  of  the  verb.  In 
this  language,  also,  there  is  no  mark  of  any  kind,  even  by 
affixed  particles,  to  distinguish  the  present  tense  from  the  past, 
nor  even,  in  the  third  person,  to  distinguish  the  future  from 
the  other  tenses.  KidvoJ  may  signify  "lie  loves,"  "he  loved," 
and  "he  will  love."  The  Dakota  is  a  little  better  furnishetl  in 
this  way.  The  plural  is  distinguished  from  the  singular  by 
the  addition  of  the  particle//,  and  in  the  first  person  by  pre- 
fixing the  pronoun  ;//7,  the)-,  in  lieu  of  ica  or  tvc^  I.  Thus, 
kaqkd,  he  binds,  becomes  kackdpi,  they  bind;  7^'akdcka,  I 
bind,  becomes  nukddcapi,  we  bind.  No  distinction  is  made 
between  the  present  and  the  past  tense.  Kark<l  is  both  "he 
binds"  and  "he  bound."  The  particle  kta,  which  is  not  printed, 
and  apparently  not  pronounced,  as  an  affix,  indicates  the 
future.  All  other  distinctions  of  number  and  tense  are  ex- 
pressed in  these  two  languages  by  adverbs,  or  by  the  general 
context  of  the  sentence. 


14 

In  lieu  of  these  scant  and  imperfect  modes  of  expression,  the 
Tuteio  gives  us  a  surprising  wealth  of  verbal  f.*rms.  The  dis- 
tinction of  singular  and  plural  is  clearly  shown  in  all  the  per- 
sons, thus: 

opeiva,  he  goes  opchelda,  the)'  go 

oyapi'"i^<ci,  thou  goest        oyap> pila,  ye  go 
oioapei^'a,  I  go  }naop('"i^<a ,  we  go 

Of  tenses  there  are  many  forms.  The  termination  in  civa 
appears  to  be  of  an  aorist  or  rather  of  an  indefinite  meaning. 
Opeii'ii  (from  opa,  to  go),  may  signify  both  "he  goes,"  and 
"he  went."  A  distinctive  present  is  indicated  by  the  termina- 
tion oiiia,  a  distinctive  past  by  oka,  and  a  future  by  ta  or  ita. 
Thus  from  ktc,  to  kill,  we  have  xvaktc^oa,  I  kill  him,  or  I  killed 
him,  ivaktiovia,  I  am  killing  him,  and  xoaktita,  I  shall  kill  him. 
So  olidta,  he  sees  it,  becomes  oJiatinka,  he  saw  it  formerly,  and 
ohatcta,  he  will  see  it.  The  inflections  for  person  and  number 
in  the  distinctively  present  tense,  ending  with  oina,  are  shown 
in  the  following  example: 

loaginoina,  he  is  sick  ivaginoTiJiua,  they  are  sick 

ivayinginoina,  thou  art  sick    i^'ayiiigiiioinpo,  ye  are  sick 
li'anicgiiioina,  I  am  sick  iiiarigi<.aginoiua,  we  are  sick 

Besides  these  inflections  for  person,  number  and  tense,  the 
Tuteio  has  also  other  forms  or  moods  of  the  verb,  negative, 
interrogative,  desiderative,  and  the  like.  IVaktcioa,  I  killed 
him,  becomes  in  the  negative  form  kiiK.'aktt'iia,  I  did  not  kill 
him.  Yakti"ii'n,  thou  killedst  him,  makes  in  the  interrogative 
form  j)vr/V("iL'<',  didst  thou  kill  him?  Oivapcz^HX,  I  go,  shows 
the  combined  negative  and  desiderative  forms  in  kcnvapvhina, 
I  do  not  wish  to  go.  None  of  these  forms  are  found  in  the 
Dakota  or  Hidatsa  verbs. 

In  like  manner  the  possessive  pronouns,  when  combined 
with  the  noun,  show  a  much  greater  fulness,  and,  so  to  speak, 
completeness,  in  the  Tuteio  than  in  the  Dakota,  as  is  seen  in 
the  following  example: 

TUTELO.  DAKOTA. 

Head  pasili  pa 

My  head  iniinpasili  inapa 

Thy  head  yiupasul  nipa 

His  head  cpasui  pa 

Our  heads  cinaT^kpasill        iiupapi 

Your  heads  cyiukpasupui      nipapi 

Their  heads  cpasui-lci  papi 

The  linguistic  evidence  is  to  a  certain  extent  supplemented 
by  other  testimony.  It  would  seem  at  least  probable  that 
some  of  the  western  Dakotas  at  one  time  had  their  habitations 


east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  have  been  gradually  v  ithdrawiivj^ 
to  the  westward.  The  l''rcnch  missionary  Gravier,  in  his 
"RelaticMi"  of  the  year  1 700,  affirms  that  the  Ohio  River  was 
called  by  the  Illinois  and  the  Miamis  the  Akansea  River,  be- 
cause tlie  iXkanseas  formerly  dwelt  alon;^  it.  The  Akanseas 
were  the  Dakota  tribe  who  Ikp  ■;  ^iven  their  name  to  the  River 
and  State  of  Arkansas.  Catli;.  fdund  reason  for  believinj^  that 
the  Mandans,  another  tribe  of  the  southern  Dakota  stock,  for- 
merly resided  in  the  x'alley  of  the  Ohio.  The  peculiar  traces 
in  the  soil  which  marked  the  foundations  of  tlieir  dwellint;s 
and  the  position  of  their  villages  were  exident,  he  affirms,  at 
various  points  alon<^  that  river.* 

Another  \ery  widely  extended  Indian  stock  is  the  Al^onkin 
family,  which  possessed  the  vVtlantic  coast  from  Labrador  to 
South  Carolina,  and  extended  westward  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
even,  in  the  far  north,  to  the  Rock\  Mountains,  where  some 
of  the  Satsika  or  Hlackfoot  tribes  s]  ak  a  corrupt  dialect  of  this 
stock.  Gallatin,  who  had  studied  their  lan^ua<^^es  with  special 
care,  expresses  the  opinion  (in  his  "Synopsis  of  the  Indian 
Tribes,"  p.  29),  that  the  northern  Algonkins  were  probably  the 
orit,Mnal  stock  of  this  famil)'.  In  this  northern  division  he  in- 
cludes the  tribes  dwelling  north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  from  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  \icinity  of  the  northern  Dakotas 
and  Blackfoot  Indians.  They  comprise  the  numerous  and 
widely  scattered  Monta^nais  (or  Mountaineers),  the  Algonquins 
proper,  the  Ottawas,  Chii^peways,  and  Crees  or  Knistenaux. 
Whether  they  were  really  the  elder  branch,  and  whether  the 
Micmacs  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  Abenakis  of  Maine,  the  New 
England  Indians,  the  Delawares,  the  Shawanoes,  the  Miamis, 
and  the  other  southern  and  western  Al<,n)nkins  spoke  derived 
or  secondai'}'  languages,  is  a  question  which  can  only  be  decided 
by  a  careful  comparison  of  words  and  grammatical  forms. 
Mr.  Trumbull,  who  has  made  this  department  of  American 
linguistics  peculiarly  his  own,  would  be  better  able  than  any 
one  else  to  prosecute  this  line  of  researcii,  and  decide  how  far 
the  opinion  of  Gallatin  is  sustained  by  the  evidence  of  lan- 
guage. I  may  merely  remark  that  in  his  valuable  paper  "On 
Algonkin  Versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,"  in  the  Transactions 

•After  this  paper  was  composed,  I  lia<I  the  satisfaction  of  learning,  at  tho  ineetinR  of 
the  American  .VsKociation  in  Montreal,  from  my  friend  tho  Kev.  .J.  Owen  Dorsoy,  of  tho 
Smithsonian  Institution  (who  has  spent  several  yours  among  the  western  ])akota  tribes  in 
missionary  lahors,  and  in  investigating  their  languages  and  social  systems),  that  all  tho 
southern  tribes  of  that  stock— tho  Omahas,  Otoes,  Kansas,  lowas,  Missouris,  Ac. — liavo  a 
distinct  triiilition  that  their  ancestors  formerly  dwelt  east  of  tho  Mississippi.  Miss  Alice 
C.  Fletchi  vho  had  resided  for  a  year  among  tho  Omahas,  ac(iuiring  a  knowledge  of  their 
customs  u  I  traditions,  had  heard  the  same  history.  Whether  the  northern  Dakotas  havo 
a  similar  tradition  is  not  known.  The  former  trii)es  all  speak  of  the  Winnebago  (or  Hotch- 
angara)  tribe  as  their  uncle,  ond  declare  that  their  own  tribes  were  originally  oifshoots  from 
the  Winnebagoea.  A  eomparison  of  the  letter-changes  between  the  Winnebago  and  the 
■western  dialects  (as  shown  in  an  interesting  paper  on  tho  subject  read  by  Mr.  Dorsoy  before 
the  Association),  left  no  doubt  of  this  derivation.  The  Wiunebagoes  evidently  hold  the 
same  relation  to  the  western  tribes  of  this  stock  that  the  Mohawks  bear  to  tho  western 


16 

of  the  American  Philoloj^ical  Association  for  1872,  'Sir.  Trum- 
bull notices  specially  the  soft  and  inusicrJ  character  of  the  laii- 
^aiages  spoken  by  the  western  Al^^oiikins,  ilij  Illinois  and 
Miami  tribes, — a  softness  arising  from  the  fact  that  "the  propor- 
tion of  consonants  to  vowels  in  the  written  lanjjjua^^e  is  very 
small.  Some  words  (he  continues)  are  framed  entirely  of  vow- 
els, e.  g.,  iiaiiia,  'he  goes  astray;'  iiaiii,  or,  with  imperfect 
diphthongs,  ita-iti,  'an  egg;'  uiinux,  'he  is  married;' in  many 
otliers  there  is  only  a  single  semi-vowel  or  consonant  proper 
in  half-a-dozen  syllables,  e.  g.,  ditiankiiii,  'there  is  yet  room;' 
(U<r/>itr,  'a  buck.'  In  (xcmuatcnc,  'it  leans,  is  not  upright,' 
we  have  but  two  consonants. " 

This  paucity  of  consonants  is  a  well-known  mark  of  that  pho- 
netic decay  which  distinguishes  derivative  languages.  The 
Hawaiian  is  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  Polynesian  dialects. 
The  "Vocabulary"  of  this  language,  compiled  by  the  Rev. 
Lorrin  Andrews,  shows  many  hundred  words  composed  either 
of  vowels  alone,  or  of  vowels  with  but  a  single  consonant. 
Aoaao,  the  sea-bree/.e,  oiaio,  truth,  uiio,  to  question,  /looicic, 
proud,  iiiaaiiaiiiva,  to  trade,  uiitiki,  to  glimmer,  are  words 
which  may  be  compared  with  those  quoted  by  Mr.  Trumbull. 
E.xamples  might  also  be  drawn  from  our  own  speech,  in  which 
the  German  aiii^c  becomes  eye,  the  German  legen  becomes  lay, 
the  German  )iiacJitig\iQ.coKac'r,  mighty,  and  so  on,  in  numerous 
instances  too  well  known  to  need  recital.  That  the  Algonkin 
languages  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  which,  if  not  harsh,  are  cer- 
tainly hard  and  firm,  abounding  in  consonants,  should  prove 
to  be  of  more  recent  origin  than  the  soft  vocalic  dialects  of 
the  west,  is  extremely  improbable. 

The  traditions  of  the  northern  Algonkins  do  not,  according 
to  the  native  historians,  Peter  Jones  and  George  Copway,  trace 
their  origin  further  back  than  to  a  comparatively  late  period, 
when  their  ancestors  possessed  the  country  which  they  still 
hold  north  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior.  The  Crees,  from 
time  immemorial,  have  wandered  over  the  wide  region  extend- 
ing between  these  lakes  and  Hudson's  Bay,  and  stretching 
eastward  to  the  coast  of  southern  Labrador.  It  is  only  in  recent 
times,  as  the  Rev.  P'ather  Lacombe,  the  author  of  an  excellent 
dictionary  and  grammar  of  their  language,  assures  us,  that 
they  have  found  their  way  west  of  the  Red  River,  and  have 
expelled  the  Assiniboins  and  the  Blackfoot  tribes  from  a  por- 

Iroquois  nations,  while  tht>  Tuti'lo(^a  ivvci  to  the  Winncbagocs  what  tho  Hurona  aro  to  tlio 
Mohawks.  That  the  oniifiratioii  of  the  Dakota  tril)i;9  from  tho  euHt,  which  was  infi'rrcil  by 
mo  (after  the  discovery  of  tho  Tiitelo  languattel,  Ironi  imrely  linguistic  evidence,  should  bo 
thus  confirmed,  must  be  retiarded  as  a  striking  iiroof  of  the  value  of  such  evidence  in  eth- 
nological science.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  through  the  W(>ll-directed  efforts  of  llajor 
Powell  and  his  able  collaborators,  the  stud-'uts  of  this  science,  in  its  American  department, 
will  soon  have  a  large  mass  of  valuable  evidenco  at  their  conniiaad,  in  the  iJiiblications  of 
the  Smithsoniau  Bureau  of  Ethnology, 


17 

tioii  of  the  territory  cxtcndinjlj  from  ♦hat- river  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  'liic  Lenni  Lenape,  or  Dclawares,  alone  possessed 
what  seems  to  have  been  a  j^enuine  tratUtion,  i:[oin^  l)ack  for 
many  ^eneraticms.  Of  this  tradition  some  further  notice  will 
hereafter  be  taken. 

The  southern  ret;ion  of  the  United  States,  e.vtendinj^r  from 
the  eastern  coast  of  (ieor^ia  to  the  Mississippi  River,  was  oc- 
cupied chiefly  by  a  fourth  lin^^uistic  stock,  the  Chalita-Muskoki 
family,  comprisini,^  the  Creeks  or  Muskhof^rees,  the  Chickasas, 
the  Choctaws,  and  scjiiie  minor  tribes.  The  lan^nia<;e  of  the 
'.easternmost  of  these,  the  Creeks,  differs  so  witlely  from  those 
of  the  western  tribes,  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasas,  that  Galla- 
tin, though  noticinL,^  resemblances  sufficient  to  incline  him  to 
believe  in  their  common  orij;in,  felt  obliged  to  classify  them  as 
belon^nn^  to  separate  stocks.  Later  investigations  leave  no 
doubt  of  their  affinity.  The  differences,  however,  are  much 
greater  than  those  which  exist  between  the  different  lanj^aiages 
of  the  Algonkin  family,  or  between  those  of  the  Iluron-Iro- 
(piois  ^n-oup.  The)'  may  rather  be  compared  with  the  differ- 
ences which  are  found  between  the  Cherokee  and  the  Iroquois 
lant^ua<;fes.  There  is  an  evident  ^grammatical  resemblance, 
alon^  with  a  marked  unlikeness  in  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  vocabularw  The  natural  inference,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Cherokee,  is  that  many  of  the  words  of  these  differing  lan- 
guages have  been  derived  from  some  foreign  source.  This  is 
the  opinion  expressed  by  Dr.  D.  G.  lirinton,  than  whom  iio 
higher  authority  on  this  point  can  be  adduced,  in  his  interest- 
ing paper  "On  the  National  Legend  of  the  Chahta-IVIuskokec 
Indians,"  published  in  the  Historical  Magazine  for  February, 
iH/O.  It  has  seemed  to  me  riOt  imlikelj'  that  these  languages 
and  the  Cherokee  owed  the  foreign  element  of  their  vocabu- 
lary to  the  same  source,  and  that  this  source  was  the  language 
of  the  people  who  formerly  occupied  the  central  region  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  have  been  the  object  of  so  much 
painstaking  investigation,  under  the  name  of  "The  Mound- 
builders.  " 

The  mystery  which  so  long  enveloped  the  character  and  fate 
of  this  vanished  people  is  gradually  disappearing  before  the 
persistent  inquiries  of  arch;et)logists.  The  late  lamented  Pres- 
ident of  our  Association,  the  Hon.  L.  H.  Morgan,  in  his  work 
on  the  "Houses  and  House-Life  of  the  American  Aborigines," 
has  shown  the  evidences  of  resemblance  in  the  mode  of  life 
and  social  condition  of  the  Moundbuilders  to  those  of  the  "Vil- 
lage Indians"  of  New  Mexico  and  .Arizona.  From  various  indi- 
cations, however,  it  would  seem  probable  that  their  political 
system  had  been  further  developec  than  that  of  these  Village 


IH 

Indians,  and  tliat,  as  in  the  Mexican  \'alk;}-  anil  in  I'cru,  the 
l^'roatcr  portion  of  tlu-  pojjulation  was  combined  under  one 
central  aiitlioiity.  Dr.  Hrintmi,  in  a  will-rcasoned  essa)-  on 
"The  I'rohabk'  Nationalit}'  of  the  Moundhiiildirs, "  printed  in 
the  AmKRKAN  An  IKJIAKIAN  for  October,  iSSi,  lias  pointed 
out  the  fact  that  the  tribes  of  the  Chahta-Muskoki  family  were 
mound-builders  in  recent  times,  and  that  their  structiu'es  were 
but  little  inferior  in  size  to  those  of  the  extinct  population  of 
the  Ohio  \'alley.  He  sees  re.ison  for  coiicludiii}.'  that  "the 
Moundbuilders  of  the  Ohio  were  in  part  the  progenitors  of  the 
Chahta  tribes."  Dr.  Hrinton's  extensive  research  and  his  cau- 
tion in  decidinij  give  great  wiight  to  his  conclusions,  to  which 
I  would  onl)'  \enture  to  suggest  some  motlilications  drawn 
from  the  e\idences  of  tradition  and  language. 

iMr.  Morgan  remarks  that  "from  the  absence  of  all  tradition- 
ary knowledge  of  the  Mouiulbuilders  amt)ng  the  tribes  found 
cast  of  the  Mississippi,  an  inference  arises  that  the  period  of 
their  occupati(ui  was  ancient."  P'or  the  same  reason  he  thinks 
it  probable  th.it  their  w  ithdrawal  was  gradual  and  voluntar)-; 
for  "if  their  expulsion  had  been  the  result  of  protractetl  war- 
fare, all  remembrance  of  so  remarkable  an  event  would  scarcely 
have  been  lost  among  the  tribes  b\-  whom  they  were  dis- 
placed." Mr.  Morgan's  j:)rofoun(!  studies  in  sociolog}' left  him 
apparently  little  time  to  devote  to  the  languages  and  traditions 
of  the  Indians;  otherwise  he  could  not  have  failed  to  notice 
that  the  memories  retained  by  them  of  the  overthrow  ami  ex- 
pulsion of  their  semi-civilized  i)redecessors  are  remarkabi)'  full 
and  distinct.  W'e  have  these  traditions  recorded  by  two 
native  authorities,  the  one  lioquois,  the  other  Algxjnkin,  each 
ignorant  of  the  otiier's  existence,  and  j'ct  each  confirming  the 
other  with  singular  exactness. 

The  remarkable  historical  work  of  the  Tuscarora  Cu.'=ick, 
owing  to  its  confused  and  childish  stjle,  and  its  absurd  chro- 
nology, has  received  far  less  attention  than  its  intrinsic  \aluc 
deserves.  Whenever  his  statements  can  be  submitted  to  the 
test  of  language,  they  arc  in\'ariabh'  confirmed.  Me  tells  us 
that  in  ancient  times,  before  the  Iroquois  separated  from  the 
Hurons,  "the  northern  nations  formed  a  confederacy,  and 
seated  a  great  council-fire  on  the  River  St.  Lawrence. "  This 
confederacy  appointed  a  high  chief  ("a  prince,"  as  Cusick  calls 
him),  as  ambassador,  who  "immediately  repaired  to  the  south, 
and  visited  the  great  emperor,  who  resided  at  the  Golden  City, 
a  capital  of  the  vast  empire.  "  The  mention  of  the  Golden  City 
has  probabl}'  induced  many  readers  of  Cusick's  book  to  rele- 
gate this  story  to  the  cloudland  of  mythology.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  to  the  Indians  of  North  America  one  metal  was 
as  remarkable  and  as  precious  as  another.    Copper  was,  in  fact, 


19 

their  j,'()M.  Amonj;  the  Moiiiulhuildcrs,  copper  hehl  the  pre- 
cise place  which  K<'hl  heUl  in  ancient  I'cru.  ( )f  haniim.TiHl 
copper  the)'  made  ornaments  (or  their  jxjrsons  and  their 
dresses,  and  wrou^dit  thi'ir  most  Nahu'd  implt-inents.  In  one 
jjrave-niound  in  Athens  count)',  ()hio,  IMotcssor  ]•].  15.  An- 
drews found  about  (i\i"  iuuuh'ed  coi)])cr  heads,  forming'  a  line 
around  the  space  which  had  once  lichi  the  bod\'  of  the  former 
owner.  "W'hi-n  we  remember  (he  writes)  that  tlie  copper  of 
the  Moundbuihlers  was  obtained  from  the  \eiii-  of  native  cop- 
per near  Lake  Superior  (a  h)nc,^  \\.i\'  off  from  southern  Ohio), 
.  where  it  was  quarried  in  the  most  laborious  manner;  that  it 
was  iiammered  into  thin  sheets,  and  (h\'idi'd  into  narrow  strips, 
by  no  better  smith's  tools,  so  far  as  we  know,  than  such  as 
could  be  made  of  stone,  and  then  rolled  into  beails,  it  fs  e\i- 
dent  that  the  at^.i,n'ej:[ate  amount  of  labor  in\'ol\ed  in  the  fabri- 
cation of  the  beads  in  this  mouiul  w oukl  gi\e  them  an  im- 
mense value.  "* 

Cusick's  "(lolden  Cit)'"  was  probabl)*  a  city  aboundint:^  in 
the  precious  red  metal  of  the  Lake  Su])erior  mines.  ";\fter  a 
time,"  he  i)roceeds,  "the  emperor  built  man)'  forts  throuL;"hout 
his  dominions,  and  almost  penetrated  to  Lake  ICrie.  Thisjiro- 
duced  an  excitement.  The  jjcople  of  the  north  felt  that  they 
Avould  soon  be  dejiriv-ed  of  the  ctntntr)'  on  the  south  side  of 
the  (ircat  Lakes.  'I'hey  determined  to  defend  their  countr)' 
against  the  infringement  of  f<M'ei;4n  i)eople.  Long,  bloody 
wars  ensued,  which,  perhaps,  lasted  abmit  one  hundred  )'ears. 
The  people  of  the  north  were  too  skilful  in  the  use  of  bows 
and  arrows,  and  could  endure  hardshi})s  which  jM'oved  fatal  to 
a  foreign  people.  At  last  the  northern  people  gained  the  con- 
quest, and  all  the  towns  and  forts  wt:re  totall)'  destro)ed,  and 
left  in  a  heap  of  ruins." 

This  tells  the  whole  stor)',  in  tlie  plainest  language.  There 
is  not  the  slightest  reason  for  supposing  that  this  narrative  is 
a  fabricatit)n.  If  it  were,  it  would  be  the  only  discoverable 
invention  in  the  book.  I^ut  Cusick's  work  bears  throughout 
the  stamp  of  perfect  sincerit)'.  There  is  nothing  in  it  drawn 
from  books,  or,  so  far  as  can  be  discovered,  from  an)'  other 
source  than  native  tradition.  His  stor)',  moreover,  receives 
confirmation,  as  has  been  said,  from  an  independent  and  e\cn 
hostile  quarter.  The  Delaware  Indians,  who  st)'led  themselves 
Lenni  Lenape,  had  a  tradition  closely  agreeing  with  that  of 
the  Iroquois.  This,  too,  has  been  overlooked  or  undervalued, 
through  a  manifest  geographical  error  in  those  who  first  re- 
ceived and  attempted  to  interpret  it, — the  error  of  supposing 

♦Report  of  the  Peibody  Museum  of  American  Arclueology  and  Etbuology  for  1880,  p.  61. 


'20 

that  only  one  river  could  bear  among  the  Indians  the  very 
common  name  of  the  "^rcat  river." 

'Ihc  well-known  missionar\'  author,  llcckewclder,  commen- 
ces his  "History  of  the  Indian  Nations,"  with  the  account 
which  the  Lcnni  Lenapt-  give-  of  the  mi^^rations  that  i)rought 
them  to  the  rc^Mon  on  tin-  hanks  of  the  Delaware  River,  where 
the;,  -vere  found  by  the  w  hite  colonists.  The  story,  as  he  relates 
it,  is  entirely  credible,  and  corresponds  with  the  Iroquois  tra- 
tlitions,  except  in  one  respect.  The  Lenape  ami  the  Ircxpiois 
are  represented  as  coming'  not  from  the  north,  but  from  the 
far  west,  crt)ssing  "the  Mississippi"  together,  ami  falling  witii 
their  united  forces  on  the  people  whom  they  found  in  the  Ohio 
valley.  These  were  a  numerous  people,  called  the  Allighewi 
or  Tallegwi,  who  dwelt  in  great  fortified  towns.  After  a  long 
ami  destructive  war,  in  which  no  (piarter  was  given,  the  Alli- 
ghewi  were  utterly  defeated,  and  fled  "down  the  Mississippi." 
The  conc|uerors  then  diviiled  the  countr)'  between  them,  the 
Iroquois  choosing  the  region  along  the  (ireat  Lakes,  while  the 
Lenape  took  possession  of  the  country  further  flowth.  The  tra- 
tlition  is  recortled  at  much  greater  length,  and  with  many  aildi- 
tional  particulars,  in  a  jiaper  on  the  "  liistorical  and  Mytho- 
logical 'iraditions  of  the  Algoncpiins,"  by  tl;e  distinguished 
archa;ologist,  IC.  (i.  Squier,  read  before  the  Historical  Society 
of  New  York,  in  June,  1S4S,  and  republished  lately  by  Mr. 
Beach  in  his  "Indian  Miscellany."  This  pa()er  comprises  a 
translation  of  the  W'n/nni-Olinn,  or  "bark-record"  of  the  Lenni 
Lenape,  a  genuine  Indian  composition,  in  the  Delaware  lan- 
guage. It  is  evitlently  a  late  compilation,  in  which  Indian 
traditions  are  mingled  with  notions  drawn  from  missionary 
teachings.  The  purely  historical  part  has,  like  Cusick's  narra- 
tive, an  authentic  air,  and  corrects  some  errors  in  the  minor 
details  of  Ilcckewelder's  summary.  The  country  from  which 
the  Lenape  migrated  was  Shinaki,  the  "land  of  ilr-trees,"  not 
in  the  west,  but  in  the  far  north, — evidently  the  woody  region 
north  of  Lake  Superior.  The  people  who  joined  them  in  the 
war  against  the  AUighewi  (or  Tallegwi,  as  they  arc  called  in 
this  record),  were  the  Talamatan,  a  name  meaning  "not  of 
themselves,"  whom  Mr.  Squier  identifies  with  the  llurons,  and 
no  doubt  correctly,  if  we  understand  by  this  name  the  Huron- 
Irocpiois  people,  as  they  existed  before  their  separation.  The 
river  which  the)-  crossed  was  the  Messusipu,  the  "Great  River," 
beyond  which  the  Tallegwi  were  found,  "possessing  the  east." 
Th-'t  this  river  was  not  our  Mississippi  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  the  works  of  the  Moundbuilders  extended  far  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  latter  river,  and  would  have  been  encountered  by 
the  invading  nations,  if  they  had  approached  it  from  the  west, 


91 

lonp;  before  they  arrived  at  its  banks.  The  "Groat  River"  \va<* 
app.irently  the  upper  St.  Laurence,  and  most  prob.ibl)-  that 
portion  of  it  which  flows  from  Lake  Huron  to  Lake  I'^rie,  and 
which  is  commonly  known  as  tlie  Detroit  River.  Near  this 
river,  acconhn^;  to  I  Irckewelder,  at  a  point  west  of  Lake  St. 
Clair,  and  also  at  another  j)lace  just  south  of  Lake  ICrie,  some 
desperate  conflicts  took  place.  Hundreds  of  the  slain  Talle^wi, 
as  he  was  told,  were  buried  under  mounds  in  that  vicinity. 
This  precisely  accords  with  Cusick's  statement  that  the  pef)plc 
of  the  j;reat  southern  empire  had  "almost  penetrated  to  Lake 
Erie"  at  the  time  when  the  wai  bej;an.  Of  course,  in  coming 
'  to  the  Detroit  River  from  the  region  north  of  Lake  Superior, 
tlie  Al^onkins  would  be  ailvanciii};  from  the  wi'st  to  the  east. 
It  is  ijuite  conceivable  that,  after  many  generations  and  many 
wandering's,  they  njay  themselves  have  forf,fotten  which  was 
the  true  Messusipu,  or  (ireat  River,  of  their  traditionary  tales. 
The  passaj^e  already  tpioted  from  Cusick's  narrative  informs 
us  that  the  contest  lasted  "perhaps  one  hundred  years."  In 
close  agreement  with  this  statement,  the  Delaware  record 
makes  it  endure  during  the  terms  of  four  heatl-chiefs,  who  in 
succession  presideil  in  the  Lenape  councils.  I^'rom  what  we 
know  historically  of  Indian  customs,  the  averai^e  tenure  of  such 
chiefs  may  be  computed  at  about  twenty-five  years.  The  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  record  gives  their  names  and  probably 
the  fullest  account  of  the  conflict  which  we  shall  ever  possess  : 

"  Some  went  to  the  east,  and  the  Tallcgwi  killed  a  portion; 

Then  all  of  one  mind  exclaimed,  War  !  War ! 

The  Talamatan  (not-of-thcmselves)  and    the  Nitilowan,    [allied  north-peo- 

])lc],  K"  united  (to  the  war.) 
Kinnepehciid  (.Sharp-lookinjj)was  the  leader,  and  they  went  over  the  river, 
And  they  took  all  that  wns  there,  and  despoiled  and  slew  the  Tallet^wi. 
Pimokhasuwi  (Stirring-at)out)   was  next   chief,  and  then  the  Tallegwi  were 

much  too  stronfj. 
Tenchckensit  COpen-path)  followed,  and  many  towns  were  given  up  to  him. 
Paganchihilla  was  chief,  and  the  Tallegwi  all  went  southward. 
South  of  the  Lakes  they  (the  Lenape)  settled  their  council -fire,  and  north  of 

the  Lakes  were  tl;cir  friends  the  Talamatan  ( Ilurons  ?) 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  Allighcwi  or 
Tallegwi,  who  have  gi\cn  their  name  to  the  Alleghany  River 
and  Mountains,  were  the  Moundbuilders.  It  is  also  evident 
that  in  their  overthrow  the  incidents  of  the  fall  of  tlie  Roman 
Empire  were  in  a  rude  way  repeated.  The  destiny  which  ulti- 
matelv  befell  the  Moundbuilders  can  be  inferred  from  what  we 
know  of  the  fate  of  the  Ilurons  themselves  in  their  final  war 
with  the  Iroquois.  The  lamentable  story  recorded  in  the 
Jesuit  "Relations,"  and  in  tlie  vivid  narrative  of  Parkman,  is 


22 

well  known.  The  fjreatcr  portion  of  the  Huron  people  were 
extenninatcd,  and  tlieir  towns  reduced  to  ashes.  Of  the  sur- 
vivors many  were  received  and  adopted  anion^  the  conquerors. 
A  few  fled  to  the  east  and  sought  protection  from  the  French, 
while  a  larger  remnant  retired  to  the  northwest,  and  took  shel- 
ter amouL;"  the  friendly  Ojibways.  The  fate  of  the  Talle<^wi  was 
doubtless  similar  to  tliat  which  thus  overtook  the  descendants 
of  their  Huron  conquerors.  So  long  as  the  conflict  continued, 
it  was  a  war  of  extermination.  All  the  conquered  were  massa- 
cred, and  all  that  was  perishable  in  their  towns  was  destroyed. 
When  they  finally  }ielded,  many  of  the  captives  would  be  si)ared 
to  recruit  tiie  thinned  ranks  of  their  conquerors.  This,  at  least, 
would  occur  among  that  division  of  the  conquering  allies  which 
belonged  to  the  Huron-Irocpiois  race;  for  such  adoption  of 
defeated  enemies  is  one  of  the  ancient  and  cardinal  principles 
of  their  well-devised  political  system.  It  is  b)'  no  means  un- 
likely that  a  portion  of  the  Moundbuilders  may,  during  the 
conflict,  have  separated  from  the  rest  and  deliberately  united 
their  destiny  with  those  of  the  conquering  race,  as  the  Tlascal- 
ans  joined  the  Spaniards  in  their  war  against  the  Aztecs. 
Either  in  such  an  alliance  or  in  the  adoption  of  captive  ene- 
mies, we  may  discern  the  origin  of  the  great  Cherokee  nation, 
a  people  who  were  found  occupying  the  southeastern  district 
of  the  Moundbuilders' country,  having  tlieir  chief  council-house 
on  the  summit  of  a  vast  mound  which  they  themselves  as- 
cribed to  a  people  who  preceded  them,*  and  speaking  a  language 
which  shows  evident  traces  of  its  mixed  origin, — in  grammar 
mainly  Huron-Iroquois,  and  in  vocabulary  largely  recruited 
from  some  foreign  source. 

Another  portion  of  the  defeated  race,  fleeing  southward 
"down  the  Mississippi,"  would  come  directly  to  the  country 
of  the  Chahta,  or  Choctaws,  themselves  (as  Dr.  Brinton  re- 
minds us)  a  mound-building  people,  inferior  probably  in  ci\i- 
lization  to  the  Allighewi,  but  superior,  it  may  be,  in  warlike 
energy.  With  these  the  northern  conqucrers  would  have  no 
quarrel,  and  the  remnant  of  the  Allighewi  would  be  allowed  to 
remain  in  peace  among  their  protectors,  and,  becoming  in- 
corporated with  them,  would  cause  that  change  in  their  lan- 
guage which  makes  the  speech  of  the  Choctaws  differ  as  much 
from  that  of  their  eastern  kindred,  the  Creeks  or  Muskhogees, 
as  the  speech  of  the  Cherokees  differs  from  that  of  their  north- 
ern congeners,  the  Iroquois. 

If  this  theory  is  correct,  we  might  expect  to  fmd  some  simi- 
lar words  in  the  languages  of  the  Cherokees  and  the  Choc- 
taws.     These  languages,  so  far  as  their  grammar  is  concerned, 

♦  Uartram'B  Travels,  p.  367.    Reports  of  the  Peabody  Musduih,  vol.  2,  p.  7G. 


23 

belonj^  to  entirely  different  stocks.  The  difference  is  as  com- 
plete as  that  which  exists  between  the  Persian  and  Turkish 
lanL,fuages.  It  is  well  kriown  that  these  last-named  languages, 
though  utterly  unlike  in  grammar,  have  a  common  element  in 
the  iVrabic  words  which  each  has  adopted  from  a  neighboring 
race.  We  are  naturally  led  to  inquire  whether  similar  traces 
exist  in  the  Cherokee  and  the  Choctaw  of  a  common  element 
derived  from  some  alien  source.  The  comparative  vocabula- 
ries gi\en  in  Gallatin's  work  comprise  chiefly  those  primitive 
and  essential  words  which  arc  rarely  borrowed  by  any  lan- 
guage, such  as  the  ordinary  terms  of  relationship,  the  names  of 
the  parts  of  the  human  body  and  the  most  common  natural 
objects,  the  numerals,  and  similar  terms.  There  arc,  however, 
some  words,  such  as  the  terms  for  some  articles  of  attire,  the 
names  of  certain  animals,  and  a  few  others,  which  in  most 
languages  are  occasionally  taken  from  a  foreign  source.  Thus 
the  Saxon-lCnglish  has  borrowed  from  the  Norman-French 
element  the  words  for  boot  and  coat,  for  cattle  and  squirrel,, 
for  prisoner  and  metal.  It  is,  therefore,  interesting  to  find 
that  the  vocabularies  of  the  Cherokee  and  the  Choctaw,  differ- 
ing in  all  the  more  common  words,  show  an  evident  similarity 
in  the  following  list: 


CHEROKEE 

CHOCTAW  and  CHICASA 

Shoes 

lasulo 

slut  lush 

Buffalo 

y<r>iasa 

/ifdiiiHsh,  ycnnush 

Fox 

ts/ila 

c  Jill  I  a 

Prisoner 

ayiiriki 

yuka 

Metal 

atc/iiH 

tiillc,  tali 

These  resemblances,  occurring  only  in  words  of  this  pecu- 
liar class,  can  hardly  be  mere  coincidences.  A  more  extensive 
and  minute  comparison  will  be  needed  to  establish  beyond 
question  the  existence  of  this  foreign  element  common  to  the 
two  languages,  and  the  extent  to  which  each  has  been  modified 
by  it;  but  the  indications  thus  shown  seem  to  confirm  the  con- 
clusions derived  from  t'."^  clear  and  positive  traditions  of  the 
northern  Indians.  Every  known  fact  favors  the  view  that 
during  a  period  which  may  be  roughly  estimated  at  between 
one  and  two  thousand  years  ago,  the  Ohio  valley  was  occupied 
by  an  industrious  population  of  some  Indian  stock,  which  had 
attained  a  grade  of  civilization  similar  to  that  now  held  by  the 
Village  Indians  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona;  that  this  popu- 
lation was  assailed  from  the  north  by  less  civilized  and  more 
warlike  tribes  of  Algonkins  and  Hurons,  acting  in  a  temporary 
league,  similar  to  those  alliances  which  Pontiac  and  Tecumseh 


24 

afterweirds  rallied  against  the  white  colonists;  that  after  a  long 
and  wasting  war  the  assailants  were  victorious;  the  conquered 
people  were  in  great  part  exterminated;  the  survivors  were 
either  incorporated  with  the  conquering  tribes  or  fled  south- 
ward and  found  a  refuge  among  the  nations  which  possessed 
the  region  lying  between  the  Ohio  valley  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico;  and  that  this  mixture  of  races  has  largely  modified 
the  language,  character,  and  usages  of  the  Cherokee  and  Choc- 
taw nations.* 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  evidence  of  language,  and  to  some 
extent  that  of  tradition,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  course 
of  migration  of  the  Indian  tribes  has  been  from  the  Atlantic 
coast  westward  and  southward.  The  Huron-Iroquois  tribes 
had  their  pristine  seat  on  the  lower  St.  Lawrence.  The  tradi- 
tions of  the  Algonkin?  seem  to  point  to  Hudson'.>  Bay  and  the 
coast  of  Labrador.  The  Dakota  stock  had  its  oldest  branch 
east  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  possibly  (if  the  Catawba  nation 
shall  be  proved  to  be  of  that  stock),  on  the  Carolina  coast. 
Philologists  are  well  aware  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  American  Indians  to  favor  the  conjecture  (for  it  is 
nothing  else),  which  derives  the  race  from  eastern  Asia.  But 
in  western  Europe  one  community  is  known  to  exist,  speaking 
a  language  which  in  its  general  structure  manifests  a  near  like- 
ness to  the  Indian  tongues.  Alone  of  all  the  races  of  the  old 
continent  the  Basques  or  Euskarians  of  northern  Spain  and 
southwestern  France  have  a  speech  of  that  highly  complex  and 
polysynthetic  character  which  distinguishes  the  American  lan- 
guages. There  is  not,  indeed,  any  such  positive  similarity  in 
words  or  grammar  as  would  prove  a  direct  affiliation.  The 
likeness  is  merely  in  the  general  cast  and  mould  of  speech; 
but  this  likeness  is  so  marked  as  to  have  awakened  much  atten- 
tion. If  the  scholars  who  have  noticed  it  had  been  aware  of 
the  facts  now  adduced  with  regard  to  the  course  of  migration 
on  this  continent,  they  would  probably  have  been  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  similarity  in  the  type  of  speech  was  an 
evidence  of  the  unity  of  race.  There  seems  reason  to  believe 
that  Europe, — at  least  in  its  southern  and  western  portions, — 
was  occupied  in  early  times  by  a  race  having  many  of  the 

♦  I  am  gratified  to  find  that  tho  views  here  sot  forth  with  regard  to  the  chfiractor  and  fate 
of  the  Moundbullilers  are  almost  identical  with  those  expressed  bv  Mr  M.  E.  Force,  iu  his 
excellent  paper,  entitled  '  To  what  Mace  did  the  Moundhnildcrs  belong  I"  read  before  the 
Congris  Internntimiul  des  A7ntricani»tes,  at  Luxembourg  in  1877.  The  fact  that  so  judi- 
cious and  experienced  an  inquirer  as  Judge  Force,  after  a  personal  examination  of  the 
earthworks,  has  arrived,  on  purely  archmological  grounds,  at  the  same  conclusions  to  -which 
I  have  been  brought  by  tho  independent  evidence  of  tradition  and  language,  must  bo  re- 
garded as  affording  strong  confirmation  of  tho  correctness  of  those  concluHiona.  Mr.  J.  P. 
MaoLean,  in  his  valuable  work  on  "  the  Moundbuildors,"  shows  (p,  Hi)  that  tho  strong  and 
skillfully  planned  line  of  tortesses  raised  by  the  ancient  residents  of  Ohio  was  plainly 
erected  against  an  enemy  coming  from  the  north,  and  that  tho  warfare  was  evidently  a 
long-protracted  struggle,  ending  suddenly  in  the  complete  overthrow  and  destruction  or 
expulsion  of  tho  defenders.  These  facts  coincide  exactly  with  the  tradition  recorded  by 
Cusick. 


25 

characteristics,  physical  and  mental,  of  the  American  aborig- 
ines. The  evidences  which  lead  to  this  conclusion  are  well  set 
forth  in  Dr.  Dawson's  recent  work  on  "Fossil  Man."  Of  this 
early  European  people,  by  some  called  the  Iberian  race,  who 
were  ultimately  overwhelmed  by  the  Aryan  emigrants  from 
central  Asia,  the  Basques  are  the  only  survivors  that  have 
retained  their  original  language;  but  all  the  nations  of  south- 
ern Europe,  commencing  with  the  Greeks,  show  in  their  phys- 
ical and  mental  traits  a  large  intermixture  of  this  aboriginal 
race.  As  we  advance  westward,  the  evidence  of  this  infusion 
.  becomes  stronger,  until  in  the  Celts  of  France  and  of  the  Brit- 
ish Islands,  it  gives  the  predominant  cast  to  the  character  of 
the  people.* 

If  the  early  population  of  Europe  were  really  similar  to  that 
of  America,  then  we  may  infer  that  it  was  composed  of  many 
tribes,  scattered  in  loose  bands  over  the  country,  and  speaking 
languages  widely  and  sometimes  radically  different,  but  all  of 
a  polysynthetic  structure.  They  were  a  bold,  proud,  adven- 
turous people,  good  hunters  and  good  sailors.  In  the  latter 
respect  they  were  wholly  unlike  the  primitive  Aryans,  who,  as 
was  natural  in  a  pastoral  people  of  inland  origin,  have  always 
had  in  the  east  a  terror  of  the  ocean,  and  in  Europe  were, 
W'thin  historic  times,  the  clumsiest  and  least  venturous  of  nav- 
igators. If  communities  resembling  ihe  Iroquois  and  the 
Caribs  once  inhabited  the  British  islands  and  the  western  coasts 
of  the  adjacent  continent,  we  may  be  sure  that  their  fleets  of 
large  canoes,  such  as  have  been  exhumed  from  the  peat-depos- 
its and  ancient  river-beds  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  France, 
swarmed  along  all  the  shores  and  estuaries  of  that  region. 
Accident  or  adventure  may  easily  have  carried  some  of  them 
across  the  Atlantic,  not  merely  once,  but  in  many  successive 
emigrations  from  different  parts  of  western  Europe.  The  dis- 
tance is  less  than  that  which  the  canoes  of  the  Polynesians  were 
accustomed  to  traverse.  The  derivation  of  the  American  pop- 
ulation from  this  source  presents  no  serious  improbability  what- 
ever, t 

On  the  theory,  which  seems  thus  rendered  probable,  that 
the  early  Europeans  were  of  the  same  race  as  the  Indians  of 

*"Tho  BnHquo  may  then  bo  the  solo  surviving  relic  and  -witness  of  an  aboriginal  west- 
ern European  iioimlation,  disiiosBosst'il  by  the  intrusive  Indo-Kuroiioan  tribes.  It  stauels 
entirely  alone,  no  kindred  having  yet  been  found  for  it  in  any  part  of  the  world.  It  is  of  an 
exaiigeratedly  agglutinative  typo,  incorporating  into  its  verb  a  variety  of  relationa 
■wiiich  are  alinost  everywhere  else  expressed  by  an  independent  word."—  "The  Uasijne 
forms  a  suitable  stepping-stone  from  which  to  enter  the  peculiar  linguistic  domain  of  the 
New  World,  since  there  is  no  other  dialect  of  the  Old  World  which  so  much  resembles  in 
structure  the  American  languages." — Professor  Whitney,  in  "  The  Life  and  Orowth  of 
LiiTigxiage,"  p.  258. 

fThe  distance  from  Ireland  to  Newfoundland  is  only  sixteen  hundred  miles.  The  dis- 
tanco  from  tlie  Sandwich  Islands  to  Tahiti  (whence  the  natives  of  the  former  group  affirm 
that  their  ancestors  came),  is  twenty-two  hundred  miles.    The  distance  from  the  former 


2G 

America,  wc  arc  able  to  account  for  certain  characteristics  of 
the  modern  nations  of  I'.urope,  which  would  otherwise  present 
to  the  student  of  anthropolo^^y  a  perplexing  problem.  The 
Aryans  of  Asia,  ancient  and  modern,  as  we  know  them  in  the 
Hindoos,  the  Persians,  and  the  Armenians,  with  the  evidence 
afforded  by  their  histor\',  their  literature,  and  their  present 
condition,  liave  always  been  utterly  devoid  of  the  sentiment  of 
political  rights.  The  love  of  freedom  is  a  .ing  of  which 
they  seem  incapable.  To  humble  themselve  .  uefore  some  supe- 
rior power, — deity,  king,  or  brahmin, — seems  to  be  with  them 
a  natural  and  overpowering  inclination.  Next  to  this  feeling 
is  the  love  of  contemplation  and  of  abstract  reasoning.  A 
dreamy  life  of  worship  and  thought  is  the  highest  felicity  of 
the  Asiatic  Aryan.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  ancient  Euro- 
peans were  what  tlie  l^asques  and  the  American  Indians  arc 
now,  they  were  a  people  imbued  with  the  strongest  possible 
sense  of  personal  independence,  and,  resulting  from  that,  a 
passion  for  political  freedom.  They  were  also  a  shrewd,  practi- 
cal, observant  people,  with  little  taste  for  abstract  reasoning. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  from  a  mingling  of  two  races  of 
such  opposite  dispositions,  a  people  of  mixed  character  would 
be  formed,  very  similar  to  that  which  has  existed  in  Europe 
since  the  advent  of  the  Aryan  emigrants.  In  eastern  Europe, 
amon^  the  Greeks  and  Sclavonians,  where  the  Iberian  element 
would  be  weakest,  the  Aryan  characteristics  of  reverence  and 
contemplation  would  be  most  apparent.  As  we  advance  west- 
ward, among  the  Latin  and  Teutonic  populations,  the  sense  of 
political  rights,  the  taste  for  adventure,  and  the  observing, 
practical  tendency,  would  be  more  and  more  manifest;  until  at 
length,  among  the  western  Celts,  as  among  the  American  In- 
dians, the  love  of  freedom  would  become  exalted  to  an  almost 
morbid  distrust  of  all  governing  authority. 

If  this  theory  is  correct,  the  nations  of  modern  Europe  have 
derived  those  traits  of  character  and  those  institutions  which 
have  given  them  their  present  headship  of  power  and  civiliza- 
tion among  the  peoples  of  the  globe,  not  from  their  Aryan 
forefathers,  but  mainly  from  this  other  portion  of  their  ances- 
try, belonging  to  the  earlier  population  which  the  Aryans 
overcame  and  absorbed.  That  this  primitive  population  was 
tolerably  numerous  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  Aryans, 
particularly  of  the  Latin,  Tc  tonic,  and  Celtic  nations,  lost  in 
absorbing  it  many  vocal  elements  and  many  grammatical  in- 

islanda  to  the  Marquesas  group,  the  nearest  inhabited  land,  is  seventoen  hundred  miles. 
The  canoes  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  (as  wo  are  assured  by  Kills,  in  his  "I'olynesian 
Researches"),  "seldom  exceed  fifty  feet  in  length."  In  the  river-beds  of  France,  ancient 
canoes  have  been  found  exceedint!  forty  feet  in  lent^th.  One  was  more  than  forty-five 
feet  long,  and  nearly  four  feet  deep.  See  the  particulars  in  Figuier's  "Primitive  Mon," 
Appleton'8  edit,,  p.  177. 


ncction:.  of  ihcir  speech.  They  ^fained,  at  the  same  time,  the 
self-respect,  the  love  of  liberty,  and  the  capacity  for  self-gov- 
ernment, which  were  unknown  to  them  in  their  Asiatic  home. 
Knowing,'  that  these  characteristics  have  always  marked  the 
.American  race,  we  nvci\  not  be  surprised  when  moilern  re- 
searches demonstrate  the  fact  that  many  of  our  Indian  com- 
munities have  possessed  pi)litical  systems  embodyin<^  some  of 
the  most  valuable  principles  of  popular  government.  We  shall 
no  longer  feel  inclinetl  to  question  the  truth  of  the  conclusion 
which  has  been  announced  by  Carli,  Draper,  and  other  philo- 
'  sophic  investigators,  who  affirm  that  the  Spaniards,  in  their 
concpiest  of  Mexico,  Yucatan,  and  Peru,  destroyed  a  better 
form  of  societ)-  than  that  which  they  established  in  its  place. 
The  intellectual  but  servile  Aryans  will  cease  to  attract  the 
undue  admiration  which  the\'  have  received  for  qualities  not 
their  own;  and  we  shall  look  with  a  new  interest  on  the  rem- 
nant of  the  Indian  race,  as  possibly  representing  this  nobler 
type  of  man,  whose  inextinguishable  love  of  freedom  has 
evoked  the  idea  of  political  rights,  and  has  created  those  insti- 
tutions of  regulated  self-government  by  which  genuine  civili- 
zation and  progress  are  assured  to  the  world. 


•   i''  ,•• ,♦,      • 

,   .  •  .  •  •  •    , '  •• .  . .    • .  •  1  •     •  • 


